At AmonRa Energy, which specializes in the logistics of all components for photovoltaic power plants, we have previously set the idea of distributing up to 80% of the profit as a dividend.
- Eng. Ivan Velchev has been the Business Development Director of AmonRa Energy AD since the company’s establishment in 2020. He is responsible for the construction of new bases on the Balkan Peninsula and in Western Europe, for the supply of photovoltaic panels, inverters and structures manufactured by the world’s leading brands. He has 18 years of experience in the energy sector. Before joining AmonRa Energy, he consulted on a €15 million solar panel and blockchain energy trading platform project. He began his professional development as a designer at Ideal Standard – Vidima and is a member of the Innovation Board. Early in his career, he won a competition from the Bulgarian-American Investment Fund for financing green energy projects.
- From 2005 to 2013, he was a project manager at Solar Energy System, where he developed energy strategies and managed the construction of turnkey energy projects. From 2014 to 2016, he was the Business Development Director of Biofuel Ltd. He graduated from the Technical University of Gabrovo and International Economic Relations from the University of Economics in Varna. He is currently acquiring additional qualifications in renewable energy for the Master of Business Administration program at Said Business School in Oxford, England. He is also one of the founders of the Institute for Zero Energy Buildings, which works together with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and a Danish company on seasonal thermal energy storage programs. He speaks English, German and Russian.
– Mr. Velchev, I am curious if the company is named after the Egyptian supreme god Amon Ra?
– Yes, it is named after the Egyptian supreme god. If you notice, it is precisely because it is named after him that we have written the name in a conflated form, so as not to provoke the wrath of the gods, and secondly, because we must look for the symbolism. And it is as follows – let’s just go up.
– You represent the first photovoltaic company that has decided to go public. Does the boom in the construction of solar power plants give you courage?
– Our strategy is not based on the boom we observed last year. The company was founded in 2020, before anyone suspected that there would be such a boom. Our expectations for the development of solar and renewable energy are for something that is logical for the future of the world as a whole. The crisis with Russia’s war in Ukraine provided an unexpected booster, but the logic of Europe and the world is a transformation towards green energy and renewable sources. When people hear about a green transition, they are shocked that this is something bad that we have to pay for. In fact, this is the logical development of energy. From fossil fuels, which are a limited resource, we must switch to those that are not exhaustible. We are currently paying much more for energy from coal than from renewables, but we do not realize it.
– I read that in just a few years the company has gained a stable place in the market – are you available 24 hours a day, do you deliver, do you store?
– “AmonRa Energy” specializes in the logistics of all components necessary for the construction of a photovoltaic power plant. Such sites are more complex in general. And that is why the delivery itself plays a very important role. We are focused on the logistics of small and medium-sized projects. Our focus is not only on Bulgaria, but we are also developing in the Balkans. We are the logical partner of small and medium-sized installers throughout the region.
– Your IPO is launching in November 2022, are you achieving your goals?
– Our subscription was successful. We achieved what we needed and we are very pleased. Our issue was oversubscribed by 40% above the minimum we had set. Perhaps in terms of net amount (over 3 million leva) this is one of the largest raised in this segment for small and medium businesses.
– You announced that you plan to distribute 80% of the profit as a dividend. Isn’t it too early for that?
– This has been our policy since the company was founded. If we accumulate all our profits internally, it will disappoint our investors. We have previously set the idea to distribute up to 80% of the profits as dividends. This way, the investor will receive part of the money for his investment every year. This is a matter of policy.
At the regular General Meeting of Shareholders on June 30, 2023, a decision was made for “AmonRa Energy” AD to distribute 80% of its profit for 2022 as a dividend. A large part of the people who are our shareholders know us as a company and as individuals, or are our clients and trust us. By distributing a dividend, we make them real participants in our successes. It has always been strange to me how companies without profit and without distributing a dividend grow in price. This is not normal in my opinion.
– Is it true that you will invest the money in warehouses for the development of the company?
– Yes. We are about to finalize the acquisition of the first one. I hope that within 6-7 months we will be ready to build our first warehouse in Eastern Bulgaria. After that, we will move to other neighboring Balkan countries.
– Are photovoltaic programs for businesses and households a niche for your company in our country?
– For us, this is an opportunity for development. Unfortunately, these programs are not popular enough because they are not well-designed by the government.
For example, in the business program, 100% of the allocated money will not be used. Usually, there are oversubscriptions from projects, and this program will not even attract 60% of applicants, which is a pity.
Here I would like to say something that is very important and that I have been talking about for a long time. In Europe and in the world, there is almost no country that has not introduced the so-called net metering system for household consumers and for part of the business. For example, you have a house, you install a photovoltaic plant, it starts producing, and what is outside consumption, it feeds into the network. So in practice you pay the difference between what you have spent and what you have returned. In this way, you do not lose the opportunity to produce. Currently, it is done in such a way that you sell at a very low price and buy at a very high one. This is not profitable, and the European programs do not provide for the possibility of selling at all, which is not good.
In Serbia, Greece, and Romania there is such a net metering system, while in Bulgaria there is not. Namely, through it the state could support household consumers.
When we talk about photovoltaic power plants, we imagine some huge solar fields. This is a mistake, this is no longer green energy. It is green when it is placed on the roof of a house, on a building, next to a building. However, when it is located on fertile land, it is on the border of green. Why destroy fertile land to create green energy? That is why we have focused on projects that are partially and fully self-consumption. This is real green energy.
